Paper thin A singer-songwriter better known as the latter but desperate to be famous as the former, John Hiatt stages more comebacks than George Foreman. It happened first in 1987 (Bring the Family, with Nick Lowe and Ry Cooder and Jim Keltner as his pro “studio sidemen”), then in ’90…
Paul Nugent sits across the table eating sushi during a lunch interview he initially was skeptical about attending. Nugent, who’s co-owner of the local Rainmaker Records label, was hesitant to show up because he figured he was just being set up, duped into another opportunity to dump on two of…
On the surface Retrospective Rosanne Cash Columbia Records Rosanne Cash, despite her Nashville-bred instincts, has never been a singles artist: She’s got the songs (“I Don’t Know Why You Don’t Want Me,” “Rosie Strike Back,” “Seven Year Ache,” “Hold On”–none of which are included here), but she succeeds when they’re…
Rock and roll exists today only because so many have decided they’re going to be rock stars or they’re going to make a living as accessories to rock stars. They don’t realize the era of the rock star is over. We’ve seen all the clothes and poses and we’ve heard…
The man known as Little Jack Melody is flattered by the nice mention in a recent issue of New York magazine, a write-up promoting several shows in Manhattan; the writer referred to the band as “one of the lovelier pop combos in the land…also one of the oddest,” paying particular…
“I’m a firm believer that at least half of the population is mentally retarded, and I think I’m being kind of nice to tell you the truth. That’s from a personal perspective. I’ve seen a lot of morons.” At the moment, Green Day’s lead singer and peroxided frontman Billie Joe…
“Every time Mr. Sinatra was performing in Vegas, he would come to see me. He always came to the shows with a movie star like Dean Martin or Sammy Davis, Jr. I knew when he was there because he would hand the waitress a note to give me, and he…
Ripping Daisy There The Big Train Independent release The boys in Big Train sent out a resume with the CD, complete with a list of influences that are no doubt meant to fill in the huge blanks left by the music: Frank Zappa, Jesus Lizard, Led Zeppelin, Jane’s Addiction, Joni…
Though T-shirts and joints of cheap Mexican pot still typify the Austin music-scene ambience, dinner jackets and expensive cigars are the style at Cedar Street, a downtown jazz bar that boasts a long line of patrons awaiting admission every weekend, all of them eager to quaff martinis and tap their…
The Devil’s advocate Speaking to the Observer a year ago to promote the release of his two-CD retrospective Seducing Down the Door, John Cale was as eloquent and dizzying as his music–alternately poetic and blunt, approachable but only from a distance. He spoke of his initial reaction to Lou Reed’s…
Brought the noise Def Jam Music 10th Year Anniversary Various artists Def Jam If hip-hop has becomes its own worst enemy, reduced to self-parody by money-hungry hacks toting plastic pistols, here’s a reminder of a time when the music compromised nothing. It was tough but not tough-guy, hard but not…
“Anything that we didn’t record, we erased or got rid of, so there isn’t that much outtakes…A lot of it is just alternate takes that we turned down, and they’re bringing them back and calling them interesting takes. They’re actually the takes we rejected. They could get a real nice…
For more than three years, Naomi’s Lounge on Canton has been the focal point for the local “Honky-Tonk Underground” movement that has spawned the likes of Cowboys and Indians, The Old 97’s, Liberty Valance, The Cartwrights, Lone Star Trio, Tex Edwards and the Swinging Cornflake Killers, and even Houston’s Mary…
Notes from the underground Independence Makes Distribution Difficult Various artists Buzzmonger This compilation from Buzzmonger is the musical equivalent of the ‘zine that spawned it–loud, wacky, abrasive, abusive, as worthless as it is worthwhile. And like the fanzine culture itself, which thrives on an us-versus-them attitude, Independence Makes has a…
Lots of cash and free time P P Capitol Records Johnny Depp needs Gibby Haynes for the credibility, the kind every actor-turned-rocker needs to be taken seriously; and Gibby Haynes needs Johnny Depp for the high-profile visibility, the kind every art-punk needs to be taken profitably. And so P, the…
In the eternal debate between nature and nurture, saxophonist Joshua Redman might cause adherents from both sides of the argument to scratch their heads in wonder. On the one hand, he’s the son of free-jazz saxophone legend and Fort Worth native Dewey Redman, whose tonal qualities and agility are certainly…
Son of Tupelo “Wilco sounds like Wilco, but Son Volt sounds like Uncle Tupelo.” So said a member of Wilco before their astonishing show at the Sons of Hermann Hall on November 18, and he didn’t mean it as an insult or even a boast, just as a declaration of…
As the co-owners of the local Leaning House Records label, Mark Elliott and Keith Foerster are two young men fueling the bebop flame, twentysomething purists enamored with a jazz sound that first flowered decades before they were born. To that end, they have released albums by saxophonist Marchel Ivery (1994’s…
Gang of snore On the face of it, which is about as deep as you can go with this band, there’s nothing much to like about Elastica and everything to hate about them: They’re such a rip-off of Gang of Four and Wire they’ve been taken to court on charges…
Mike Daane, the bass player for Ugly Mus-tard, welcomes his guest in his elaborate home studio with a hearty smile. You might know Daane’s name or his face: For years, he has been known as the friendliest and busiest bassist in local music, a man who has loaned his talent…
Blow fi the American Analog Set the American Analog Set Independent Them indie-rockers are a tortured lot–torn between two worlds, weary of rock and roll but unable to exist without it. They see these rock and roll instruments strapped over the shoulders, these drum kits standing in front of them,…
A languid harmonica, the trumpet of the downtrodden, is the first sound you hear on Bruce Springsteen’s new LP The Ghost of Tom Joad. Then comes the gentle tug of guitar strings and a voice too wise, too weary to worry about enunciating last syllables. “Men walkin’ ‘long the railroad…
